Into The Abyss-Pokemon Insurgence
by Midnight Coffee 64
Summary: A Pokemon Insurgence fanfic, starring the Abyssal Cult Leader Audrey and one of the main rivals, her son Damian. Follows the events of the awesome Fan Game, and a potential aftermath and possible explanation for what happened before the events of the game. (Warning, there are spoilers) Warning # 2: It's pretty dark. You have been warned.
1. Chapter 1: Flashing Back

The dim lighting in her room did nothing but make the eerie feeling that Audrey felt within her fester further.

The young Marine Biologist sat up in her bed drenched in cold sweat. The frustration and shame within her began its descent into unbearableness. When would it ever stop?

The horrifying and humiliating ordeal she had gone through many months before weighed heavily on her, and she was certain that if her hair wasn't already white, that it would have surely turned it with all the built-up stress and frustration. Moving her hair away from her forehead, she got up to get a glass of water. Her breathing was heavy, and she was cold with sweat.

 _How could I ever face my Grandpa Archie again with this shame?_ She had thought in the first two weeks following the incident. The granddaughter of the infamous leader of Team Aqua-violently raped by a disgusting masked hoodlum in the shadows of Kepler City. She had tried to have the man convicted for it, but the Augur was too busy with more important matters, mostly concerning the cults in the region, to deal with such a thing. The Police themselves did not seem to care so much, and told her that if she wanted to have something done about it, she would have to at least have a physical description of her attacker.

It should only be so easy. The man was wearing a mask. All she knew was that he was big and smelled disgusting. That was not enough of a lead to go by, considering that those two words described about half of the Police Force. She was left to deal with things on her own, as usual.

The white-haired woman felt an intense hatred within her heart, and a pounding in her stomach. The incident had manifested a proof of its own; a child was growing in her womb. When she went to the Human Hospital in Kepler City, the Nurse had an Audino hooked up to a machine, and performed an Ultrasound with it. The child seemed to be healthy, and it was a boy, definitely. Over the many weeks that passed, she had begun looking into means of vengeance. Vengeance against the Augur, vengeance against the Police, and most of all, vengeance against the man who ruined her life.

Eventually, the baby came. It was a long and painful process, and she wasn't sure how she felt about the whole thing. On one hand, the child was a beautiful baby boy with white hair, like his mother. On the other hand, he was a scar of ill tidings, and repulsed a part of her.

Still, she held him, wrapped in a blue blanket, crying in her arms. She was gently hushing him and patting his back gently.

She felt a wave of relief and happiness for a brief moment. For the first time in ages, Audrey felt the comfort of another human being. She was generally a loner by nature, stemmed from the fact that her parents had both died when she was young due to a shipwreck in the Hoenn Seas.

She had spent her life with her Grandfather Archie, and had learned of his many adventures in the Hoenn Region and beyond; how he had awakened the living Legend, Kyogre, and what chaos had sprung forth from it.

Archie came into the room to join his granddaughter and great-grandson. He had been infuriated to the point where his face was as red as Maxie's hair when he had heard of the awful incident at the beginning. Now, he only cooed when he saw the little boy. The anger had long since gone from the old man's eyes. Why couldn't Audrey move on?

"So, what are you gonna name him?" Archie asked out of curiosity.

"Damian." Audrey replied, holding the infant against her chest.

The old man stroked his beard. "I never thought I'd live to be a Great-Grandfather. Heh, heh."

"How could you make jokes about this?!" Audrey snapped at the old man. "Have you forgotten what I've gone through? The Tauroshit I've had to deal with? Where were you? Huh?"

"I apologize, " Archie said dryly. "it must be the dementia."

"You don't have dementia."

"Oh... well, it's something." Archie said, finding his excuses. "I'm 85, Audrey."

"Yeah, well, I'm 17. What do I do from here?"

"You've spent your life in Kepler City with all the labs and stuff, and studying water Pokemon." Archie began. "Maybe it's time to settle down, raise a child."

"But... I haven't even had a single adventure yet." Audrey said with a broken heart. "I... I haven't gotten to do anything in my life yet, and now I'm stuck with this... this..."

"It's going to be alright, my little Milotic!" Archie said. "Raising a kid isn't that bad. I did it! Twice!"

"After you disbanded Team Aqua!" Audrey called him out. "Don't Tauroshit me!"

Archie nodded. She spoke the truth. The old man wished that there was more he could do for his Granddaughter, but alas, there was only so much he could do. He would help her raise the child, but he could not help her mental scarring. He knew deep down that she was not going to recover easily from this ordeal. It would take much time.

When he looked into her eyes, she began to look less like a Milotic and more like a Gyarados. Hurt, angry, betrayed and confused. If he knew anything about Gyarados, it's that they have been known to destroy villages in their outrages. "Maybe soon we should do something nice, like a fishing trip?" Archie said, trying to change the atmosphere in the room.

Audrey gave him a dirty look and slowly shook her head. She then turned to Damian, who was resting in her arms, and knew deep down, without a doubt, that her life was ruined.

* * *

A few years had passed, and Audrey had Damian with her on a boat. She was taking him to Telnor Town.

Her Grandpa Archie had just died a month ago, and she was stuck. The feelings of despair ran deep; through her chest, her blood, her being. Her hatred for the world only seemed to grow and fester with the passing days. She cried herself to sleep every night, and gazed longingly at the ocean every day, wishing for a tidal wave to come and destroy their world.

Damian stuck his head out between the deck railings and tried to reach out for a couple of Goldeen that jumped out of the water. When he finally caught the distracted Audrey's attention, she quickly pulled him away. "Damian! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" She gave him a light smack. "That's very dangerous! Why can't you understand that I just want to do what's best for you?"

The little boy began to cry and Audrey placed a hand on the side of her head in frustration. She could not bear this much longer. She had plans in Telnor Town; a few ex-Aqua members' children around her age to speak with. Her son would only get in her way. She had to continue her Grandfather's work. Damian would only be an obstacle.

When the boat finally docked, she took Damian by the hand forcefully and walked to the heart of Telnor Town. It was much smaller than she remembered from the last time she had visited many years ago with her deceased father's colleague Anastasia. A bit further away, she noticed a small group of people wearing blue uniforms, and one of them waved to her.

She saw a bench and put Damian down on it. "You're going to stay here. Mommy's only going to be gone for a while."

A while being twelve years. When Audrey had left him there that day, she had never returned to claim him. A couple that had walked by that night saw Damian cold and afraid, sitting on the bench. They asked him where his parents were, and he was afraid that his mother was hurt. The couple had then taken pity on the boy and sheltered him, planning for it to be until his parents would come to reclaim him, which never happened.

The memory of being abandoned always remained in the back of Damian's mind, but his mind had a way of suppressing the feelings of sadness and fear that had come with it.

* * *

When the Pokerus virus entered his system, the painful memories came flooding back to poor Damian like a tsunami.

Malde, psychically linked to him via Deoxys, turned to the weeping boy.

"Was that woman your mother?" He asked.

"Yes..." Damian replied. "...she... I think those people in blue must have killed her..."

"No, your mother is very much alive, Damian." Malde spoke with a tinge of sadness in his voice. "Your mother, Audrey, is the leader of the Abyssal cult."

Damian felt his heart sink at the sound of this shocking revelation. He felt everything hit him once again; the sadness, the feeling of being unwanted, and most of all, the feeling of having been abandoned. As well, he wanted to see his mother again. He wanted to be with her. He wanted her to love him.

"She wants to conquer the world using Lugia and Kyogre." Malde stated. "She and the other cult leaders are destined to be destroyed."

Damian shook his head in protest. "No! We have to help her! Please! Please, save her from that fate!" The boy pleaded with his heart to the old man, and Malde could not understand why.

Malde raised his human eyebrow in shock. He saw the desperation in Damian's eye and could even feel what the boy had felt within his heart. Damian longed for a second chance to live with Audrey.

The Deoxyfied old man sighed. "All right. We will part for the Abyssal base right now."

The two of them flew through the air and dove under the waves of Maelstrom 9. Damian was able to locate his mother at the far North-West end of the base. There were barriers in place, but once her Alakazam was knocked unconscious, the barriers dissipated.

Eventually, Malde waltzed into her battle room where Kyogre was being used to summon powerful, top-secret Pokemon from the ocean depths. Pokemon that Audrey was planning to use to take over the world and destroy her enemies with.

When she saw his appearance, she was both disturbed and afraid, but the infected old man extended to her the offer of joining them if he could have the crystal shard she was using to power her Blue Orb. This, of course, would break the control she had over Kyogre, which would be disasterous.

Damian heard Malde and Audrey bantering, and heard his cue coming.

"Having Pokerus is a most... illuminating experience." Malde began. "Things are revealed. You remember things that were... suppressed."

Audrey did not like where this was going, especially not with her new sworn enemy standing before the two of them. "What are you getting at?" She hissed, angrily.

"For example, the memory of a mother who abandoned her child." Malde continued to speak, drilling holes into Audrey's chest."Of being raised by somebody else because his mother chose a Pokemon over him."

Audrey felt a heavy guilt begin to wash over her. She herself had been trying to suppress that memory. She had regarded it as a sacrifice she had to make to realize her dream of vengeance against the world. Still, Malde kept drilling. "Even after remembering all that, Damian still wanted you healed."

"Damian...? You mean...?"

"That's right. Your son." Malde said as Damian entered the room. When Damian saw Audrey, he was angry, but he was also feeling determined to speak with her; to perhaps convince her to stay with him.

Audrey nearly had a heart attack then and there. It was definitely him, but everything was way off; he was infected with the same virus that the old man was carrying. "You're all grown up now..." Audrey choked down with a small sob. The guilt was overwhelming. "You're like him. You're one of them. What happened to you?"

Damian wanted to answer, but Pokerus was not allowing him to speak.

"I left you. This is all my fault." Audrey felt her heart slowly breaking at the mere sight of what her choices in life had done to her baby boy.

Malde still attempted to pursuade her into retreating the crystal, to which she refused, even if it would "make it up to Damian", due to the fear of losing control over Kyogre.

"She's not handing it over. Take it, Damian." Malde commanded.

Damian did not want to, because he feared the worst. His body was moving on its own, and grabbed the shard from his mother, releasing Kyogre.

The giant king of the sea chased Audrey into the ocean entrance in the floor and seemed to leap on top of her.

The feelings of sadness and loneliness returned. "Mom..." Damian said, tears running down his cheeks.

Malde proceeded to talk him up about how he did the right thing and how the world would thank him for helping to heal it and how everybody would look up to him, not down. The words did not make him feel better about the situation, and he slowly began to lose his human mind over time.

* * *

Eventually, the new Augur had defeated him and broke the spell over his mind. When Damian came to, his mind was in a fog. He could only remember a few things from his experience being infected with Pokerus; his friends on a few occasions, a couple of places he'd visited, and... Audrey being chased into the water by Kyogre.

He sat up in his bed and choked a sob. He knew he could not even return to his step-parents after all of this. Nora would not even want to look at him, and the new Augur was always travelling, still disbanding cults.

He wound up where he had begun: alone, afraid, sad. Angry.

After crying to himself for a few minutes, he received a News Weather notification on his phone about a storm happening near Maelstrom 9. A storm much akin to the one Audrey had Lugia stir up back in Kepler Town before the Kyogre incident.

Damian was not sure if she was behind it, but if she was, it meant that she was alive. He was willing to take that chance. He had nothing to lose, after all. He picked up his cellphone and called the new Augur, and asked if he would meet him there. When he hung up, he wasted no time and hurried to Maelstrom 9 himself.

As he traversed through the Abyssal Base, the familiar surroundings made him feel uneasy. He remembered a few things from his Pokerus infection. Still, he wandered through the halls until he made it to the room where the battle between the new Augur and the Abyssal Cult Leader took place. Where Audrey was dragged down into the depths.

Damian put on his scuba gear. He had a feeling he should go down there. At the very least, he had Pokemon that could protect him against whatever lurked below.

After a ways of swimming, he approached an underwater cavern. It was dark, and he used his light to navigate through the rushing currents. Eventually, after being lost a few times, he approached a rock mass, where he heard Kyogre and Lugia screaming and attacking each other. At the very far side, pinned between a couple of filthy, gray rocks, was his mother, Audrey.

She looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks, and her hair was a mess, along with her uniform. There was dried blood on her, as well. Her own. There were visible wounds inflicted from Kyogre's fangs in her flesh, and they were dirty and infected. She had been down in this cavern for a very long time.

Damian was anxious, and then the new Augur arrived behind him.

Audrey slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was horribly blurred. She had made a mess of her life, and now she was about to die. She was sure of it. Lugia could protect her against Kyogre, but not against the disease and infections and starvation. She could not even move her right leg due to the pierced nerve, caused by Kyogre's fangs a few weeks ago. She was done for.

When her vision began to clear slightly, she saw a familiar figure standing on the other side of the small pool.

"Damian? Is that you?"

"Audr-mom. Yeah, it's me! I thought you-you..."

"No, I'm fine. Lugia's been protecting me from Kyogre." She said, weakly. "I'm in over my head, here. I just want to get out."

The truth of those words granted her a feeling of relief. No more cults, no more destruction, no more pain. She, like her Grandpa Archie, failed to control the Legendary Kyogre, and lost her life in the process. It was not how she anticipated her great adventures to go. But as far as adventures went, she had enough. She reached the end of the line. The only choice now apart from death was to go back to a normal life. What was a normal life like?

She felt the cold reach of death behind her. In a way, it was comforting. She had never understood life.

"We are going to have a VERY serious talk. About everything!" she heard Damian say.

A small smirk came across her bloodstained lips. She lay her head against a rock pillar and closed her eyes. That was when she felt Damian put his arms around her, and the two of them were whisked away by his Escape Rope.

When Damian got to the surface world with Audrey, she had fallen unconscious. This had worried him greatly. "No, no!" He panicked. "I don't want to lose you again!" He rushed to the nearest Pokemon Center, as it was the closest place with Medical Treatment. He always found it odd, how there seemed to be enough hospitals for Pokemon, but not for people.

He rushed inside, and a Nurse Joy with her Chansey immediately approached.

"Oh..." she began. "An Abyssal Cultist... no... it's... Audrey!" The fear in the Nurse's voice was very visible when she saw the murderous cultist laid on the couch. The Abyssal Cult was notorious, and the pain they had spread throughout the region was great.

Damian was trying to catch his breath. Adrenaline had allowed him to bring his mother all the way here, but now he was out of it. "Can... can you help her, Nurse Joy?" He asked, trying to catch his breath.

"Yes. Chansey, Hard-Boiled, if you please." Nurse Joy signaled to her trusted ally.

"Chan-siii!" the Pink Egg-shaped Pokemon chimed as it gave an egglike aura to Audrey, healing most of her wounds.

Damian breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

Nurse Joy nodded. "May I ask you a question?"

"Sure." Damian responded.

"Why would you help a cult leader? You do realize there's a law against that, right? Augur Jaern had put it-"

"And yet he broke it himself." Damian spat. "She's my mother! I can't just let her die!"

Nurse Joy's eyes shot open very wide. "Your... your..."

" _Estranged_ mother." Damian corrected himself. He looked at Audrey, who was still unconscious, and he felt a twinge of sadness. He knew they had a lot to talk about and much to rebuild. He knew it was going to be difficult, but he was willing to try, at the very least.

"Well, she will need lots of rest." Nurse Joy informed him. "Chansey may be able to heal her physical injuries, but she's exhausted. Do you have a place to rest?"

Damian paused. He had not thought that far ahead. He did not want to go back into the Abyssal Base. "No." He replied, his voice shaky.

"Well, I suppose I could allow the two of you to stay in the back for a little while. At least until she can walk again." the kind Nurse gestured to a door in the back as she spoke.

"Thank you very much." Damian said with a kind nod.

Nurse Joy reciprocated with a nod of her own. She watched as Damian lifted Audrey off the floor with a loud grunt and placed her arm around his shoulders. The Nurse felt pity for the poor boy; considering who he was related to.

The Nurse sighed and shook her head. A part of her regretted helping the cult leader, and worried about what awful things would occur due to her decision.


	2. Chapter 2: A Tearfelt Apology

A few hours had passed, and Damian sat next to Audrey's bed. He had his head in his hands, and was trying to contemplate what he would ask, what he would say, and what they could do at this point. Although, he was beset with the fear that once she could stand up again, she would walk away from him once more.

 _What did I do to deserve this?_ Damian wondered to himself hopelessly. _I'm not a bad person._ _I never intentionally hurt people! Why does my Mother hate me so much?_

He looked at Audrey again, and she was awake, looking right at him. Damian immediately wiped his tears away and turned his face to hide. The last thing he wanted was for his mother to think he was a wimp.

"Are you... all right?" Audrey asked out of concern.

Damian was caught off guard, but immediately jumped on the offensive. "No! You only abandoned me when I was three years old! Of course I'd be okay!"

Audrey felt the all-too-familiar wave of guilt sweep over her again. She turned her face from her son, not willing to show any weakness herself. When Damian was finished huffing and puffing in anger, she cleared her throat. "H...how did they treat you? Your adopted parents, I mean."

"Step-mom was annoying, and Step-dad was a douche bag." Damian said, dryly.

Audrey placed a hand on her forehead and took a deep breath. "They didn't beat you, did they?"

"A couple of slaps here and there," Damian explained. "but no, no beatings."

"Thank Arceus." Audrey sighed.

For a murderer, she seemed to be greatly disturbed about the idea of a child being smacked. This surprised Damian enough to make him raise his eyebrows.

"Why did you join the Abyssal Cult, much less lead it?" Damian sprung immediately.

"You wouldn't understand, Damian. Drop it." Audrey deflected.

"Try me!" Damian dared, throwing his arms to the side in a zealous gesture. "I'll bet I can!"

Audrey Cloystered up. She closed her eyes and remained silent. She did not want Damian to know her personal history, her family's affiliation to Team Aqua, her having been raised in Kepler Town, the incident that created him, or anything other than what he already knows.

Damian dropped his arms to his sides in frustration. "You owe me that much. I saved your life!"

"I wish you hadn't!" Audrey snapped back at him, causing Damian's angry expression to drop into one of sadness.

"What?''

"Why couldn't you just leave me to die in that cave?" She continued. "I would have most certainly deserved it! It would have been poetic justice! Proper Karma, even."

Damian could not speak, and he could not believe what he was hearing. He was fighting back his raging emotions of both sadness and anger, but was finding it increasingly difficult to do so.

"Instead, you have me here; right where you want me." Audrey said, almost mockingly. "And now you want to pick my brain, as I knew you would."

"Mom..." Damian began. "I... I've been waiting for such a long time for this... to finally be with you! To see you, to hug you... to... to..." His voice broke sightly. "to be your son."

Audrey's stone cold expression that she upkept was becoming harder to hold. She cursed her feminine emotions and deeply-hidden maternal instincts. She was ashamed for what she had done to Damian, ashamed for what she did to Kyogre and Lugia, even. Once she had met Damian when he was Deoxyfied, all other emotions began to fall into place, and it was driving the white-haired woman mad. For years, she had been unfeeling; she felt no joy, no remorse, only anger, vengeance, ambition, and adrenaline. She had previously blocked out the guilt and sadness, but like any dam that tries to block a flow, it bursts under hard enough pressure. And now, she found herself in tears.

"I...I'm sorry." Was all she could bring herself to say. Her entire body trembled, and her breathing was distorted. Audrey's sobs filled the air, and she cupped her hands in front of her face. "W...what have I done?"

Damian could only pity her at this point. Still, he felt angry; rejected. "You acted like a real Houndoom."

Audrey did not cease. It was apparent that she had not cried in years. Damian stood up and walked to the door. He was about to turn the handle, but decided to turn around and walk over to Audrey. He bent down beside her and hugged her. For the first time since he could remember.

He decided that he would be the better person in this situation. He had wanted to do this even when he was with Malde, but was unable to at that point in time. Now, he could be himself again. At the end of the day, all Damian ever yearned for was a normal life.

"I know it won't be easy..." he said. "but we can find a house to live in, together. We can travel. Maybe you can make up for some of the bad the Abyssal Cult caused."

Audrey finally began to calm down, and she sniffled. "You... you still want me around? Even after all I've put you and your friend through?"

"If I've learned anything from my journey," Damian stated. "it's that everyone deserves a second chance."

A part of Audrey wanted to cringe, even if she understood what he was trying to say. The thirty-two-year old could not believe she was being taught a lesson by a fifteen-year old. She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and looked at Damian. Straight into his eyes, searching for hatred, spite, any familiar sight; and there was none. All the former cult leader could see was compassion, hope, innocence, and desperation. And naivete. She nodded. "All right."

Damian flinched from the surprise.

"I'll stay with you." Audrey reassured. "It clearly means so much to you, after all."

Damian embraced her, burying his face. The boy was overjoyed. He could have a chance at living with his biological mother again after many, many years. He knew that there was so much to talk about, and he wanted to tell her about all of his adventures in the Torren Region, starting from having come in third place at the Battle School Tournament in Telnor Town and maybe even complain about how he was kidnapped by her minions and holed up in a dump. Then again, maybe it would be best to forget about that last one.

"So... where do we go from here?" Audrey asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh... umm..." Damian stammered. He had not thought this far ahead. He was almost certain Audrey would have rejected his offer, so he did not think about where and what house they would be living in was.

"You don't know?" Audrey shook her head. "Well, we could always live in the Abyssal Base..."

"No!" Damian protested immediately. "Not there! I don't want you anywhere near that place!"

"Should have thought this through, then." Audrey said almost condescendingly.

"You know what?" Damian said. "I'll ask around! I'm sure there must be some vacancies in Kepler!"

"And Maelstrom 9 is just a hop, skip, and a dive away." Audrey reminded him.

"How about Selene City?" Damian asked. "Have you ever been there?"

"Yes, and after leaving, I wished I hadn't." Audrey retorted. "Freaky people live there."

Damian's first thought went straight to Telnor Town, even though he knew he would not be welcomed there, considering that it was out in the open that his mother was the Leader of the infamous Abyssal Cult. But then again, it was the only place he was really comfortable in, or familiar with.

"Telnor Town." He stated. "I hope that House is still empty..."

"I'll need to get a proper job." Audrey stated with a bitter taste in her mouth. "I haven't worked in the public for over sixteen years."

"Maybe a job at a Pokemart or something?"

Audrey sighed and nodded. "If they'd take me."

Damian nodded in agreement. His Mother had lots of money, considering how many people her cult robbed and murdered. He had some, as well, from having defeated other Trainers on the road during his travels. Financially, they would be sound, for now.

Audrey slowly got up off her bed and Damian did, as well. The former cult leader took her Pokeballs off the night table and attached them around her waist, and Damian put his on, as well. They both exited the small room, and Nurse Joy stood at the counter. Damian walked over to thank her, but Audrey kept her distance and looked at the floor in shame. Nurse Joy kept her eyes on the two of them as they left.

When they stood outside, Damian called for the PikaTaxi. He showed off his VIP pass proudly as they both entered.

The driver turned pale when he realized who was accompanying Damian. "Umm... w-where t-t-to?" He stuttered anxiously.

"Telnor Town." Damian instructed him.

"Yes, sir."

The PikaTaxi driver rolled up the dividing window, and Damian looked at Audrey.

Audrey was examining her scars that were left behind from her struggle against the mighty Kyogre. Then she looked at Damian, who had a clear expression of concern.

"Don't worry about it," she reassured. "I'll be all right. Believe it or not, I've gone through worse than this."

Damian nodded, and turned to look out the window.

Things were going to be hard, all right.


	3. Chapter 3: To Begin Anew

Telnor Town was quiet, and Damian honestly did not think he could return home. His step-parents would be furious with him if they had known what he did during his adventure, and his step-mother would most certainly spout out an "I told you that something would go wrong" when she saw him.

He looked over to Audrey briefly, and he wondered how they would react to seeing her. The Cult Leader. The woman who sent her minion to kill the second Augur-who turned out to be a Cult leader himself.

He approached the door to the house. He turned to Audrey. "Ready?"

Audrey nodded. She was ready to have all manner of objects tossed at her.

But, to her surprise, they never came.

"I'm back!" Damian called out, as he opened the door.

His step-mother came out first, and dropped the plate in her hand the moment she saw the Abyssal Cult Leader behind Damian.

"Oh, no! I knew it!" she screeched. "I knew we should never have let him go! He followed in her footsteps!"

Her husband came around the corner, rubbing the back of his neck. "What the heck are you..."

He noticed Audrey behind Damian, and grabbed a Pokeball from the back of his belt. Pressing a button caused the ball to enlarge to throwing size.

"Get away from Damian!" the older man cried out. "Go, Victreebell!"

With a small burst of light, a Victreebell emerged, and faced the Abyssal cult leader.

"Razor Leaf!"

The Victreebell immediately shot sharp leaves towards the Cult leader, and she immediately pushed Damian down to the ground, protecting him from any wayward leaves. She blocked her face and chest with her arms, and was pushed back a bit, and cut in various places.

Here she thought only Cultists and Teams were cruel enough to unleash Pokemon against people.

"Dad, no!" Damian cried out. "What are you doing?"

"Driving this witch out of my house!" The Balding Man wiped sweat off of his brow. "Vine Whip her!"

Audrey took out one of her Pokeballs. She knew that she was at a Type disadvantage, considering that she focused her life on maining Water types. She thought Ludicolo would be her safest bet in the spur of the moment.

"Ludicolo!" she cried. "Protect your master!" Blood ran down her fingertips, and she was in a flurry of panic.

The released light took the form of Ludicolo. When it landed on the ground, it took the hit for Audrey. It only seemed to slide back a tad.

"Why have you bewitched Damian?" the step-mother asked Audrey. "He belongs to us, not your Cult!"

"Heh... it seems that News reaches Telnor Town fairly slowly..." Audrey said with a chuckle.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Damian's step-father asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It means that the Abyssal Cult has been finished for a Month, now." Audrey spat in their direction. "I have no intention on reforming it."

"Then what do you want with Damian?"

"I wanted her!" Damian cut in, at last.

The room became silent, the Pokemon both eyed each other suspiciously.

"You what?" Damian's step-father asked, in disbelief. He pointed his Pokeball at the Victreebell, returning it to within. "Damian," he began. "this-this Radical-Militant-Trubbish... abandoned you when you were a baby." He turned to Damian sternly. "Why would you want someone like that in your life?"

"I don't know," Damian stated, glancing briefly at the former Abyssal Cult Leader. "I really don't know. It just somehow feels right. Maybe we could both rebuild our bridge?"

"This is madness!" the Step-Mother protested. "Complete, utter madness! I don't want this Sharpedo in my Town! I don't know about you," she turned to her husband. "but I'll never feel safe at night, knowing that she is living next door, or wherever!"

"Let's call the Augur!" the step-father mused. "I'll bet he will know how to deal with you, you Snubbull."

He spat on Audrey's Abyssal uniform.

"Well," she began. "he already allowed me to walk. He takes after his father Adam, it would seem." She shrugged, and wiped the spit off of her chest. She then took out her Pokeball and called back Ludicolo. "Look, I knew for certain that you would feel this way," she placed two fingers on her forehead and sighed, regaining her composure. "but I can't help that, and, frankly, I couldn't be bothered to care. I'm exhausted, and Damian said something about an empty house somewhere in this dump?"

"Ohhh, no." the step-father immediately pulled Damian towards him. "You are not living under the same roof as him. He stays here with us."

"Not my idea." Audrey shrugged again, growing increasingly annoyed with this couple.

Damian was beginning to feel disappointed. Things were not working out. He should have known better. He did, however, feel relief, knowing that his foster parents were oblivious to the whole Deoxys thing.

That lifted some weight off of his shoulders.

"She's going to move down the hill..." the step-mother mumbled to the step-father. "this is very bad. We have to stop this somehow. Maybe burn that old house down! Maybe someone has a Fire type we can borrow."

"Damian, my boy, do you have any Fire types?" the step-father asked.

"No..." he stated, dryly.

In a split second, a frustrated Audrey stormed out of the house and onto the main road. Damian cried after her, but she ignored his pleas to return. His step-father gripped him tightly, keeping him in place, as he had done for a long time.

His possessive step-mother began to close the blinds on the windows, and got the mop and bucket from the closet, and began to clean the specks of blood on the floor. She wanted no trace of the former Cult leader in her house.

Damian felt awful, and agitated. Though he felt they acted extremely harshly, he could not help but understand. He knew first-hand how the cults of Torren were, having gotten involved with many of them.

Especially the Abyssal Cult. They were like the schoolyard bullies of the region, bullying innocent people and tormenting certain Pokemon in desolate places, and acting as general nuisances to the populace. Not to mention, having kidnapped him and threatened to throw him into toxic water. And trying to flood the region, and having stolen from the Miara Town museum, and having tried to kill his friends.

A whole messy history he could write about.

Still, he was desperate to make amends with his Mother, the former Head Honchkrow of this horrible group.

When his step-father turned to look at the time, Damian wriggled out of his grip and made a beeline for the front door.

"Damian, no!"

He ignored his cry and continued to head down the dirt path, where Audrey went.

His step-mother scoffed. The biggest fear she had was Damian meeting his mother and joining the Abyssal Cult. She knew he was a clumsy, antisocial loner, and she feared that he might bud into a serial killer, like Audrey.

She and her husband looked at each other and realized that they had no control left over Damian. She wiped a tear from her eyes, and gave her husband a gaze of dissatisfaction. He reciprocated.

They had both failed.

Meanwhile, Audrey stood at the Southernmost area of the town, looking at the abandoned house Damian had told her about. She did not like it, and she did not like the lack of ocean, and mused how she would have preferred Miara Town, as it was her favourite place in all of Torren, but she realized that now was not the time to be pick-and-choosey.

She turned to a passerby, and caught them off guard. "Hey, you!"

The young man froze in terror. "Y-yes? D-don't kill me! I was just leaving, I swear! I don't want to battle, I don't want any-"

"Shut up." Audrey said, coldly.

The young man gulped and stifled himself.

"Do you know where the realtor is? I want to live in this... house."

"I-I don't know," the young man said. "I'm from Helios City, I was just visiting a friend!"

"Get out of my sight" Audrey hissed.

"Okay!" the young man ran for his life.

The uniform she wore carried so much fear with it. The man's reaction gave her a bit of a satisfied feeling; a feeling she missed since her cult disbanded.

A feeling of power.

"Stop it, Audrey." she told herself, snapping out of the high. "You said you were done with that stuff. It's time to be a nicer, gentler person."

"Audr-Mom!"

She whirled around and saw Damian heading her way.

"Damian."

"Sorry, I still have to get used to calling you 'Mom'." he said with a light shrug.

"I feel like I'm wasting my time here. This Town doesn't even seem to have a realtor."

"Yeah, that's because..." Damian began, catching his breath. "my step-parents are in charge of housing here."

"Oh." Audrey's tone dropped with a thud. "Great."

Damian rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, this was a colossal waste of my time." Audrey's tone dripped with sarcasm. She looked back at the old house. "What a shame. I suppose I'd be better off going back to the cult base, after all."

"No, you're not!" Damian protested. "Don't even joke like that!"

"Then I'm going to have to flex a little bit. Milk this uniform for whatever fear it carries left." She marched back towards Damian's foster home.

Damian knew that things were not going to go well.

Audrey slammed her fists against the door until they drew blood.

The step-mother answered, and got an immediate right-hook to the face. She flew backwards a few steps and hit into the coffee table in the living room.

Damian gasped and looked on in horror.

"Listen up, Snubbull." Audrey began, lifting her up by the shirt collar. "I'm buying the house down the road. I won't take 'no' for an answer."

"What's going o-" the step-father reentered and paused mid-sentence. "you know, I have half a mind to have you arrested."

"Half a mind was all you ever needed, friend." Audrey spat.

Damian's step-mother was bleeding from her nose, and was weeping. "Damian, please... help me..." she sobbed.

"Mom, please, let go of her!" Damian pleaded.

Audrey was into it. The rush of holding a person's life in her hands. The release of stress, the obliviation of all her problems, it was all flooding back into her. She licked her lips and pulled out a switchblade, as per habit.

Damian's step-mother's eyes widened in horror at the sight of the blade.

"Go on, get the lease." Audrey turned to the step-father, still holding the step-mother and blade. "We wouldn't want your wife to look like a Frankenstein Monster, would we?"

"You're sick!"

"You drove me to this!" she shouted. "Get the damned lease or I'll carve out her left eye!"

"Mom, that's enough! Please, stop!" Damian pleaded. When he took a step closer, she whirled her head in his direction, shooting him with a violent glare. Damian's blood went cold for a brief moment.

He was afraid. Audrey had shown him her cult colours, and it was horrifying.

The step-father came back in with the lease.

"I-it's 4000P per month. I assume you can probably afford it." He said, slowly handing it to her.

"Furnishings included, or not?" Audrey asked. "It really doesn't say."

"Y-yes, it's all there. Can you let my wife go, please?"

Audrey looked at her and pushed her away. She ran to her husband and wrapped her arms around him, sobbing while Audrey read over the document.

"Good. I'll take it!" the former cult leader said enthusiastically. "May I have a pen?"

The step-father handed her a pen, and his hand was visibly shaking.

Audrey gently took it out of his grasp and signed her name. "Perfect." She handed it back to him. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

She walked towards the door, and Damian looked at her with a look of both disappointment and astonishment.

"Excuse me, Damian." she said, gently.

The boy moved out of her way.

He looked at his foster parents, who were still shaking, and back at Audrey.

He had a very bad feeling about this.


End file.
